What To Expect from the Vegas Golden Knights in the 2018-19 NHL Season
The Vegas Golden Knights were the absolute darling of the NHL last season. It was an expansion hockey team in the desert of Las Vegas – what could go right? Then just days before the season began, the city was overcome with tragedy when a mass shooting occurred that took the lives of 58 innocent concert goers. Few believed the team would be any good to begin with, but the players came together and put the city on their backs for what was an improbable run to the Stanley Cup Finals.
The Golden Knights ultimately lost to the Washington Capitals, but the team has arrived. They put Las Vegas on the map for hockey audiences around the world and are now one of the favorites to make a run at the Cup once again. Being in Las Vegas, they’re also one of the most bet on teams in the league. What should sports bettors expect from this team in only their second season ever? Let’s take a look.
No Longer an Element of Surprise
Last season was Vegas’ first and expectations were extremely low. They got off to a hot start and never seemed to let up, even though many felt the heat would cool off at some point. In that opening season, no one expected the Golden Knights to be as good as they were. Some may claim that they saw it coming all along, but let’s be serious. No one thought this team would make the playoffs and many anticipated they’d have a losing record.
This season, opposing teams will be more prepared for Vegas and the element of surprise won’t be as high. If you were on a team playing Vegas last season, you likely expected to play an expansion team. Even when the Golden Knights were hot, everyone was just waiting for it all to fall apart. It never did, and night in and night out the Knights pounced on the opposition.
This time around, teams will be expecting to play a very good team that put together a run to the Stanley Cup Finals. They’ll be better expecting of experience and skill from the Vegas side, and they’ll also have dealt with the raucous crowd and electrifying atmosphere when facing the Golden Knights in Sin City.
Internally, expectations can play a role, too. In their first season, Vegas was playing with house money, especially after the squad got off to the start that they did. This season, the Golden Knights have a season point total of 98.5, are one of the favorites to win the Western Conference, and listed at 12-1 to win the Stanley Cup. Those are real expectations for a team in only its second year ever. If they’re going to meet them, they’re going to need to not get complacent after just one season and continue to rely on that “nobody wanted us” mentality.
How Can Vegas Do It Again?
- Get another strong season between the pipes from Fleury
- Benefit from offensive additions of Pacioretty and Stastny
- Over-perform on defense despite 20-game loss of Schmidt
Marc-Andre Fleury stood on his head last year and teams should be better prepared for how to play him. It’s also going to be a tall task for Fleury to perform as well as he did last season, but he’s a big key to Vegas’ success. He finished last season with a great save percentage of .927, which ranked him in a tie for sixth overall among qualifying goalies. Fleury is going to need to be good once again in a tough Western Conference.
Vegas’ top line of Reilly Smith, William Karlsson, and Jonathan Marchessault were unbelievable last season, combining for 92 goals and 121 assists. Karlsson experienced a true breakout year and finished third in regular season goals with 43. Karlsson is certainly going to want to prove doubters wrong who say he’s just a one-hit wonder, but just like it’s going to be tough for Fleury to replicate his performance from last season, it’s going to be tough for this top line to produce as well. That’s not to say they need to, though. Given the additions of Max Pacioretty and Paul Stastny, who will likely now play on the second line with Erik Haula, a powerful one-two punch will be provided from Vegas’ top two lines.
Last season’s second line consisted of Haula, James Neal, and Alex Tuch. Neal signed with the Calgary Flames in the offseason and is no longer with the team. Tuch appears to have been bumped to the third line due to Pacioretty and Stastny coming in. If Pacioretty can return to form after somewhat of a down year for him last season and Stastny can provide similar numbers to what the average of Neal and Tuch gave the Golden Knights on the second line last season (20 goals and 20.5 assists), this will be an upgrade for Vegas.
Tuch should be able to thrive on the third line, although he’ll start the year with an undisclosed injury that will keep him out for at least the opener, if not more. It’ll be the third year in the league for the 22-year-old who delivered 15 goals and 22 assists last season in his first full one on the ice.
On defense, the Golden Knights have a decent group of defenders, but that’s really all that they are, decent. If there is a weakness on this team, the defense is where it’s at. Overall, the backline unit will need to over-perform in order to make Vegas a true all-around team.
Nate Schmidt will be on a 20-game suspension to start the year, which will cause some rejiggering of the defensive pairings to start the season. Schmidt led the team in average time on ice last year, plus provided great leadership to go along with his 36 points. He’ll be missed to start the year and Vegas will look to him to provide a boost when he returns a quarter of the way into the season. Whether or not he’ll be the same player when he returns is another question. He did get popped for violating NHL policies on performance-enhancing drugs.
The Golden Knights defense will also be without Luca Sbisa after he signed with the New York Islanders in the offseason. Without Schmidt and Sbisa, that leaves Vegas’ top four defensemen as Shea Theodore, Colin Miller, Deryk England, and Brayden McNabb to kick off the 2018-19 season. Behind those four will be Jon Merrill and Nick Holden to start the season.
Merrill could be serviceable, but Holden is questionable. He was traded to the Boston Bruins last season for a price that would’ve guessed he’d have been in line to make more of an impact than he ultimately did. It has been suggested that either 19-year-old Erik Brannstrom or 24-year-old Jake Bischoff could overtake Holden, so that’s something to keep an eye on. Brannstrom did pop in the preseason.
Expect Another Playoff Run
End of the day, we should expect the Vegas Golden Knights to compete at a high level in a very tough Western Conference. We know what they bring to the table in net with Fleury, and we have a good sense that Vegas’ offense will be improved as a whole thanks to the additions of Pacioretty and Stastny. The defense will be the question mark, so expect some ebbs and flows there, especially in the first chunk of the season without Schmidt.
I don’t expect the Golden Knights to match their point total of 109 from one season ago, but I do see them going over the season points total of 98.5. They do play in a tough conference and a very solid Pacific Division, but I’m low on the Anaheim Ducks this year and believe the Golden Knights are right in line for the division with the San Jose Sharks and Los Angeles Kings. I’d even go so far as to say that the Pacific Division is a two-horse race between the Golden Knights and Sharks.
In the Western Conference, we know what the Nashville Predators and Winnipeg Jets bring to the table. Both of those teams are wagons. The Minnesota Wild should continue to perform well, and then the St. Lous Blues can certainly make it back to the playoffs. It’s going to be tough for Vegas to represent the Western Conference in the Stanley Cup Finals, but the team is a favorite to return to the playoffs and get out of the first round, in my opinion.
Whether you’re high or low on the Vegas Golden Knights, make your picks for or against them in the SharpSide sports betting app, where you can compete on leaderboards to see how you rank against other NHL bettors from the community. It’s free and available now on iOS, with Android coming soon.